Broken Vows and Buried Twins novel Chapter 2

Back then, all their mutual friends had envied her flawless elegance, joking that even the strands of her hair were perfectly curated.

But after the twins passed away, that beautiful illusion shattered completely.

Her trembling fingertips traced her hollowed cheeks. Hester sank to the floor, wrapping her arms around her alarmingly slender body, and finally broke down into uncontrollable sobs.

That night, Hester spiked a high fever. In her delirium, she saw her children again. Her twins, lost just a week before full term due to a horrific kidnapping incident.

In her dreams, they had grown up. They were five years old. The little boy looked exactly like Julian, and the little girl was her mirror image.

"Mommy, you have to get better!" they told her. "We're still waiting to be your babies again!"

When Hester woke up, she found herself in the hospital. Her housekeeper, Lena, had found her unresponsive and rushed her to the emergency room.

She was hospitalized for a week. Julian never showed up.

Hester thought about her children's plea in her dream. Once she was discharged, she went back to the cemetery for one final, agonizing goodbye.

Over the next two weeks, Julian didn't contact her, nor did he come home. He would take only one call from her a day, offering nothing but a few icy words: "Busy." "Not coming home tonight."

She knew he was intentionally avoiding her. But she didn't fight it anymore. She flushed her sleeping pills down the toilet, listened to her doctor, and started doing yoga to rebuild her strength.

She cleared out the nursery, burned the old ultrasound photos, and forced herself to stop talking about the twins. Her newfound dedication began to show results. Her appetite slowly returned, and the number on the scale finally started to climb.

Seeing her resolve, Julian personally took her to a renowned holistic healer for a full wellness overhaul. After two months of natural medicine and dedicated care, Hester's weight reached a healthier level. The dead, hollow look in her eyes faded. Though she was still quite slender and pale, it was a massive improvement.

Life was finally getting back on track. Just like the early days of their marriage, she accommodated him in every way, loving him fiercely and without complaint. As her husband, he was gentle and responsive to her needs.

Three months later, her period was late. Julian was out of the country on a business trip. Hester decided to go to the hospital alone to get tested.

The exact same words hit her ears from two places at once: the speaker of her phone, and the corridor just around the corner.

His tone was frigid. Before Hester could utter a single syllable, the line went dead.

Hester stood rooted to the spot. His dismissive, freezing attitude made her head spin, as if the last three months of marital bliss had just been a beautiful hallucination.

"Caden, let Daddy take you to get your shot, okay?"

His familiar voice drifted from around the corner again—but this time, it was laced with a thick, melting tenderness she hadn't heard in years.

Hester's grip tightened around her phone. Moving like a stiff marionette, she slowly turned and walked toward the corner of the hallway.

Her husband, the man who was supposed to be abroad on business, was sitting on a hospital bench with his back to her, cradling a little boy with a fever patch on his forehead.